Born into a noble Napoletan familay around 1340, Phillippus studied law at Bologna under Giovanni da Legnano. By 1372, he was a doctor of both laws and archdeacon of Bologna. He lectured on the Clementines and the Liber sextus sometime during the 1370’s, until he was elevated to the Bolognese bishopric by Pope Urban VI in 1378. As a firm supporter, together with Giovanni da Legnano, of the Roman papacy, Phillippus also received a cardinalate the same year. He died in 1389.